What To Do If Key Signatures Are Scary For Your Piano Students

Do your piano students cringe at pieces that have more than one or two sharps or flats in the key signature? Do you find yourself marking up your piano students’ music to remind them of forgotten sharps or flats? Do you avoid giving certain piano students repertoire with too many sharps or flats because you know it will cause confusion and frustration?

That’s all about to change… because today’s post is written by a “Recovering Victim of Key Signature Fear”… namely… me! Read on and I’ll show you how I got over my own troubles with key signatures as a young player and how I prevent key signature confusion in the minds of my piano students!

If Key Signatures Are “Scary”… Try These 3 Ideas

1. Create a Keyboard Map

A Keyboard Map is a visual representation of all of the notes used within a piece. I’ve put a link here to the sheet I use myself(but I’ve made it much prettier for y’all). To increase understanding and visual awareness of a key signature, before you begin a piece first discuss the following with your students:

Which keys on the piano are affected by the key signature?

Which keys on the piano are affected by other accidentals within the piece (naturals and sharps and flats outside of the key signature)?

Which is the “range” of the piece (the lowest note used and the highest note used)?

Where on the keyboard are the sharps and flats used most often?

Once you have discussed the information above it’s time to map it out. Use yellow to color in the keys that are affected by the key signature (on the entire keyboard picture). Use red to color in keys that are affected by other accidentals (sometimes I have them write the measure number above to indicate where this occurs). Use blue to mark the range of the piece (color the highest key used and the lowest key used). Draw a bracket around the area on the keyboard where the sharps and flats are used most often.

You’re now left with a mini “map” of the piece. Your students will have a very clear visual image of exactly what keys they’ll be using in the piece. Discuss any patterns that you see (ie. “Look! This key signature uses the bottom key of the group of two black keys and the bottom key of the group of three black keys!”).

2. “Chunk Out” The Key’s Scale and Measures

We discussed the technique of “chunking scales” in this post. It’s a great way to get your students’ fingers finding the correct black keys more often.

You can take this one step further and “chunk out” certain measures of the piece that are affected most frequently by the key signature. Isolate the measure, discuss the sharps and flats that are found within it and then play all of the notes together in one big “messy chord”.

In the example measure below, you’d play E, F#, G# and B all at once. This helps with muscle memory in terms of how your students’ fingers should “feel” when they reach those measures.

3. Discover the “Why” With a Circle of 5ths Chart

Having a Circle of 5ths Chart on hand is another great way to strengthen your students’ understanding of “why” the key signature affects certain notes within their pieces.

Understanding how the sharps and flats are related to other familiar key signatures builds a “mental scaffold” that your piano students can keep in mind as they play. Here’s a pretty Circle of 5ths Chart that matches the Keyboard Map so you can be fashionable while you teach ;). We’ve left the treble staffs blank so your students can fill in the sharps and flats for each as they learn about the circle of 5ths.

Don’t Forget The Ear Training!

Using visual teaching techniques to learn key signatures are important… but it’s also useful to include ear training to “double up” on the learning. You can do the following to tune your students’ ears into the key of the piece as well:

Play the tonic and have your students hum the first five notes in the key. Once they can hum the 5 finger scale, discuss which of the 5 notes are affected by a key signature. Next, play the tonic again and have your students hum the first five notes again. This time, however, instruct them to raise a hand or finger for each note affected by a key signature (and put down the hand or finger for the notes that aren’t affected). For example, in the key of F major, a student would hum and raise her finger when she hums the 4th note of the 5 finger scale (Bb). For higher level students you can do this with the entire scale.

Play the I, IV, and V chords within the chosen key one at a time and in random order. Name the chord before you play, and then have your students tell you… a) whether it was a major or a minor version of that chord and b) what accidental(s) is found within that chord in the given key. For example, if you are working on the key of E major and you played a major I chord, your student would say “Major” and then “G#”.

Do All of This Before You Begin…

Eliminating a fear of key signatures begins by arming your piano students with all of the tools they need before they ever even touch the keys. Employed correctly, the strategies above will help your students learn their pieces more quickly and with more success.

Hi Vicki – Hope it helps! I think “difficult” key signatures are something that are easy to shy away from – my own teacher certainly did – but then it meant that I didn’t have the tools to really truly understand them when it came time where I had to play in them (for exams etc). I made it my own mission to get my kiddos playing in key signatures as soon as I could (before the method books introduce them) and to teach the the more difficult scales earlier than normal so they aren’t afraid of playing with lots of black keys. I think you might find that your students’ scales will improve too with this method 🙂

Another great blog post! I have used Ted Tales with some of my teen and adult students who have had many years of piano with other teachers but were never taught proper technique. Since they are short, they are great for quick sight reading exercises also. They enjoy them almost as much as the kids!

Thank you Andrea, I haven’t taught my students key signatures in a systematic way and these resources will be excellent to give them the big picture.
I truly appreciate your posts, your passion for piano, and your willingness to share valuable resources.

Thanks Andrea!
This may or not be helpful, but I tell my students that the “key” to a house is what lets you in . If someone gives you an unmarked key and you don’t know where the house is you are in trouble.
You need to know the home tone for the song, that is the Key to unlocking the song.
Then when we move on to Key signatures they have already been taught many different ways of discovering the home tone of a song. A key signature is just a label on the Key so you know what your home tone is.
Do for Major
La for Minor
Duplex?
This is a very abbreviated version on an idea that unfolds from the very first lesson.
We are always listening , looking and feeling for the Home tone.

Thanks, Andrea! All of these resources are wonderful and so practical, breaking down the “scary stuff” so it’s manageable. They will definitely go a long way towards helping students feel in control of a piece or section.

Wonderful to hear Rachel! Yes… I spent several years as a young piano student “scared” of certain things because I just hadn’t had them explained to me in a way that worked. I just coped… and I never want my students to just “survive” like I had to 🙂 Hopefully this is helpful for your students!

Thanks for this, Andrea – so helpful!
Wondering if you have any suggestions for little ones who are trying to find their 5-finger positions? I have students particularly that struggle with low or middle G positions, and then also when Treble C position is introduced. Thanks!